KC Crain: Detroiters ill-served by inconsistent school choices

The start of a new year is a good opportunity to take stock, and I think Detroit can feel pretty good about the progress made in 2018. In 2019, infrastructure and roads are a massive pain point for the region (and the state.) But it sounds like our new governor will pay close attention to her famous campaign promise.

So to me, the issue that demands everyone's attention is education.

Not many people realize Detroit's unique position: Almost half of the children in Detroit go to a school in the Detroit Public School Community District; almost half go to a publicly financed charter school. The rest — about 30,000 — go to private schools or a school outside of city boundaries.

State law requires a charter to be "authorized" by a recognized authority, usually a state university. Charter schools are then operated day-to-day by a mix of for-profit and nonprofit management companies which technically report to that school's own board. Charter school performance is all over the map. Some are better than traditional public schools nearby; many are worse or about the same. Some authorizers tolerate lower-performing schools than others. There's no consistency across charter schools in Detroit.

You can imagine how frustrating it is for our new superintendent when he has control of less than half the possible school population of K-12 kids in Detroit. And that he has to watch those 30,000 kids leave Detroit every day for a school outside the city's borders.

Like the auto industry has experienced, we have over-capacity, too many schools — about 200 buildings — for 100,000 kids. As populations have shrunk across the city, the buildings for the most part haven't moved. That has created large deserts with no schools in some places and other parts that have far too many competing for the same kids.

How can a parent find the best school? It's hard to navigate. We need a universal grading system that holds each school — traditional public, charter or private — to the same standards. That's the only way to help parents to make informed decisions.

Don't get me wrong; there are many bright spots across the city. I've learned a lot about the issues as chair of the board for the Detroit Children's Fund, which supports quality schools in Detroit. It's just time for everyone to start paying attention. We can build new buildings, restaurants and stores, but until we fix our schools, longtime Detroiters will continue to be ill-served and Detroit will lose young professionals when they start families.